{"id":36108,"date":"2013-11-11T12:00:36","date_gmt":"2013-11-11T12:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=36108"},"modified":"2015-05-05T22:21:13","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T21:21:13","slug":"10-corporations-control-almost-everything-you-buy-this-chart-shows-how","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2013\/11\/10-corporations-control-almost-everything-you-buy-this-chart-shows-how\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Corporations Control Almost Everything You Buy \u2014 This Chart Shows How"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"megacorp\"<\/a>(Click to enlarge)<\/em><\/p>\n

Ten mega corporations control the output of almost everything you buy; from household products to pet food to jeans.<\/p>\n

According to this chart called “The Illusion of Choice,”\u00a0these corporations create a chain that begins at one of 10 super companies. You’ve heard of the biggest names, but it’s amazing to see what these giants own or influence.<\/p>\n

(Note<\/i>: The chart shows a mix of networks. Parent companies may own, own shares of, or may simply partner with their branch networks. For example, Coca-Cola does not own Monster, but\u00a0distributes<\/a>\u00a0the energy drink. Another\u00a0note: We are not sure how up-to-date the chart is. For example, it has not been updated to reflect P&G’s sale of\u00a0Pringles to Kellogg’s\u00a0<\/a>in February.)<\/p>\n

Here are just a few examples: Yum Brands owns KFC and Taco Bell. The company was a spin-off of Pepsi. All Yum Brands restaurants sell only Pepsi products because of a lifetime deal<\/a> with the soda-maker.<\/p>\n

$84 billion-company Proctor & Gamble \u2014\u00a0the\u00a0largest<\/a>\u00a0advertiser in the U.S. \u2014\u00a0is paired with a number of diverse brands that produce everything from medicine to toothpaste to high-end fashion. All tallied, P&G\u00a0reportedly serves<\/a>\u00a0a whopping 4.8 billion people around the world through this<\/a> network.<\/p>\n

$200 billion-corporation Nestle \u2014 famous for chocolate, but which is the\u00a0biggest<\/a>\u00a0food company in the world \u2014 owns<\/a>\u00a0nearly 8,000 different brands worldwide, and takes\u00a0stake in or is partnered with a swath of others. Included in this network is shampoo company L’Oreal, baby food giant Gerber, clothing brand Diesel, and pet food makers Purina and Friskies.<\/p>\n

Unilever, of soap fame, reportedly<\/a> serves 2 billion people around the world, controlling a network that produces everything from Q-tips to Skippy peanut butter.<\/p>\n

And it’s not just the products you buy and consume, either. In recent decades, the very news and information that you get has bundled together: 90% of the media is now controlled by just six companies, down from 50 in 1983, according to a\u00a0Frugal Dad infographic<\/a>\u00a0from last year.<\/p>\n

\"consolidation\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It gets even more macro, too: 37 banks have merged to become just four \u2014\u00a0JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and CitiGroup in a little over two decades, according to this Federal Reserve map.<\/p>\n

The nation’s 10 largest financial institutions\u00a0hold<\/a>\u00a054% of our total financial assets; in 1990, they held 20%. As MotherJones<\/i> reports<\/a>, the\u00a0number of banks\u00a0has dropped from more than 12,500 to about 8,000.<\/p>\n

(Click to enlarge)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"labirint\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The numbers are stark, and the charts visualize the mind-bending reality.\u00a0This is the world we live in.<\/p>\n

_________________________<\/p>\n

Chris is the founding editor at PolicyMic. He has worked for media outlets including the Associated Press and Stars and Stripes. He holds a master’s degree in political science from the University of Louisville, and a BA in journalism and political science from the University of Kentucky. <\/i><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 policymic.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to this chart called “The Illusion of Choice,” these corporations create a chain that begins at one of 10 super companies. You’ve heard of the biggest names, but it’s amazing to see what these giants own or influence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-capitalism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36108\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}